Public views on contestable element of the licence fee

The BBC Trust commissioned Ipsos to conduct quantitative and qualitative research to gauge the public's view of specific proposals put forward by the government to use some of the television licence fee to fund the provision of news in the Nations, regions and locally, by providers other than the BBC.

• View the full report
• View the BBC Trust press release
• View the BBC Trust Chairman's open letter to licence fee payers160
• Download the topline results from the BBC Trust160website

Fore more information, please visit the BBC Trust website.

Technical Details

Quantitative research The BBC Trust commissioned Ipsos to carry out a survey among 4,140 UK adults aged 15 years and over. A nationally representative quota sample of 4,014 British adults was interviewed on160Ipsos Capibus surveys. There was also a booster sample of 126 interviews carried out with a representative quota sample of adults in Northern Ireland. Two versions of the questionnaire were designed: half of the sample (2,072) was asked about the anticipated under-spend and half (2,068) were asked about the contestable element. Interviews were carried out using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) between 14th August and 1st September 2009. Interviews were carried out160face-to-face in respondents' homes and the final survey data have been weighted to reflect the UK population. Qualitative research Ipsos conducted seven deliberative workshops, each attended by between 12 and 18 participants, in London, Kent, Exeter, York, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast. The London group, which took place on 20th August 2009, was treated as a pilot and some amendments were made to the discussion guide and stimulus materials after this event. All of the remaining workshops took place in the evenings of the week commencing 24th August 2009. Given the complicated nature of the proposals, and to avoid confusing participants, it was decided that the workshops would focus solely on the contestable element of the licence fee and how this should be used. Unlike quantitative surveys, qualitative research is not designed to provide statistically reliable data on what the population as a whole are thinking. Such research is illustrative rather than statistically reliable and, therefore, does not permit conclusions to be drawn about the extent to which something is happening. Instead, qualitative research seeks to understand why people think the way they do and what drives their opinions.